Samsung confirms launch of Galaxy S5 by April

by
David Walker1/10/2014 10:34:12 AM

1/10/2014 10:34:12 AM

Good news if you happen to be running down a contract for an old Samsung Galaxy phone. A new one is around the corner.

Ok, it's quite a big corner, but if you want the Samsung Galaxy S5, March or April isn't long to wait. That's pretty much an official date too, with Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of the company’s mobile business, offering up some details ahead of that launch.

He said: 'We’ve been announcing our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time. When we release our S5 device, you can also expect a Gear successor with more advanced functions, and the bulky design will also be improved.'

So it sounds like Samsung has gone back to the drawing board for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch too, marketing an all-new version at the same time as the new Galaxy S5. As for the new flagship smartphone, previous rumours have pointed to the presence of an iris scanner for access and security, a QHD screen, Samsung's new 64-bit eight-core Exynos processor, 3GB RAM and Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box.

On the subject of that iris scanner, Lee added: 'Many people are fanatical about iris recognition technology. We are studying the possibility but can’t really say whether we will have it or not on the S5.'

What we know for sure about the S5 is that it is crucial to the company's bottom line. Share prices in the company have been tumbling for some time and the S4 wan't really the success Samsung might have hoped for. That was perhaps down to the S4 being quite similar to the S3. A mistake Samsung will not make again.

'When we moved to S4 from S3, it's partly true that consumers couldn't really feel much difference between the two products from the physical perspective, so the market reaction wasn’t as big,' Lee said. 'For the S5, we will go back to the basics. Mostly, it's about the display and the feel of the cover.'

So a different look and feel, an iris scanner (possibly) and more power under the bonnet. Sounds like a winner so far. A March/April launch event will confirm whether or not Samsung is back on top form. We'll be there to give it the once over, obviously.